Blitz's Declassified Art Survival Guide
This page is considered a follow-up to the page "How to Make a Card Art." If you haven't already, please read through that page first before reading this one. ---- Hello, everyone! Blitzwolfer here! Do you want to improve your skills as a Blox Cards artist? This page is for our fellow contributors who understand the basics, but want to become like the best and put out amazing arts! Most of this page is basically a crash course of fundamentals of art and how you can implement it into your own art. For each section, I'll try to be as brief and concise as possible for the people who need a quick read! Pictures included! Results may vary. __TOC__ Part I: Criticism! This is the most important one out of all of the sections; it's the reason why I put this section as the first. When making card arts, one of the main parts of being a card artist is listening to criticism. Criticism will hurt, but it's important to realize that no art will ever be perfect, and you shouldn't aim for that standard. Even though criticism isn't binding, it's important to acknowledge it. Sometimes, you'll come across some criticism that may be vague or discouraging. Remember to not take criticism at a personal level. Instead, dig down deeper into their critique, and if necessary ask these three questions to him/her: 1. What part about the art is bad? :This question asks the person to be more specific about what's wrong. 2. Why is that part bad? :This question gives you the root of the problem; it will give you move information to note in the future. 3. How can I improve it? :This question provides the changes/alternatives you could implement into your art instead. By asking these three questions, you'll get specific information about what needs to be changed and get you on the right direction to a good art. An easy way to get constructive criticism! Here's a quick comic for reference! Final note when it comes to getting critique. If the person isn't giving you criticism with the intent to help you, but with the intent to bash you and your work, that's destructive criticism. The best way to deal with that is to not escalate the situation - instead wrap up the conversation with them; never stoop down to their level. Part II: Planning! Planning is the first step when making a card art. Unfortunately, it's something most artists overlook when making their first art. Before you open up Roblox Studio: * Recognize what you're making an art of. * Have a general idea of what the art will look. * Understand your strengths and limitations. First, before you make the art, you need to have an understanding of what your concept actually is. Is it a famous Roblox developer? Look up what he develops. Is it a commission of a random person? Find out what he/she likes, or would like to be. Is it an original creation? Talk to others about your idea first, and post what your character would look like! Planning for a card art will be different every time and your judgement will go on a case-by-case basis. Second, you need to have a general idea of what the art will look. Will you use R6 or R15? What will the character do? What props would it have, and would that make sense? Try making a quick one-minute sketch; it helps a lot with the planning! For example, these images below are sketches for Frenzied Bomber's pose. FrenziedBomberSketch1.png|Sketch #1 FrenziedBomberSketch2.png|Sketch #2 FrenziedBomberSketch3.jpeg|Sketch #3 FrenziedBomberLuna.png|Final Image Third, you have to understand what can be done and what can't be done. Think about the limitations of Roblox Studio, the time constraint, and your technical skill of making the art as well. For example, organic shapes and unique curves are hard to implement in Roblox Studio. This is why most artists encourage the use of Roblox Studio's toolbox first in order to if there's any good models you could use (such as trees, buildings, or props). If you don't feel confident, you should plan out more ideas and decide which one would be the best against your limitations. Here's a final tip to all artists out there! Post your progress! During your planning phase, other people can help you find mistakes early; it'll be much easier to fix if you tackle it now than later. This phase is the best way to make and adjust ideas out for your art. Part III: Posing! Once you've done your planning, it's time to open up Roblox Studio and create your character! There's a lot of things to cover, so this section is split up into different "sub-sections", depending on your need. R6 vs R15: When to Use Them? It's important to know the strengths and weaknesses between R6 and R15. I've seen many artists encounter problems due to what rig they were using. If you want to know which rig to use, here's a list of R6's and R15's strengths below! R6 is useful when: * The pose is very simple and clean. * You aren't familiar with modeling. * You're going for a cartoony, or retro-Roblox look. R15 is useful when: * You're using complex poses, with bends and twists. (Sketches help when deciding this!) * You're familiar with modeling/posing before, and you want more options. * A pose isn't possible with R6 (ex: lunging in Emilvita's art). Line of Action: Fixing Stiff Posing For most card artists, they may come across the problem that their posing looks "stiff". What does that mean? In a broad term, it means that your pose looks awkward, and there could be a lot of different reasons for it looking awkward. The pose for your character might not be possible, or might be extremely uncomfortable to hold in real life. There may be a lack of weight, motion, or direction in your pose. Or it might be because your pose lacks appeal. Let's talk about line of action, a term used a lot in the profession of art (especially in animation). Put it simply, it's an imaginary line that would run down the character's body, which would establish the direction or motion of the character's pose. The more exaggerated this line is, the more force or kinetic energy it conveys to the viewer. The line of action, despite being used mainly for gesture drawing or sketches, is invaluable when sketching or modeling out your character. Here's a great explanation of it below from the creators of "Tom and Jerry". The line of action also helps in making appealing poses. Appeal is defined as how interesting or eye-catching the character is based on its design or its pose. Exaggeration that complements or intensifies the line of action also gives the pose appeal. Here's a diagram of how knowing the line of action can impact appeal. StiffPosing.png NotStiffPosing.png In conclusion, when modeling the pose for your character, make sure to be aware of that line of action! If your posing is said to be stiff: * Find the line of action, or the flow of the pose. Does it need tweaking? * Try exaggerating the line of action to give it more force and more motion! Make sure to rotate the torso and legs! * Add some asymmetry! Not everything has to be symmetrical! Twist the limbs, or change the camera angle to complement the pose! Below are some examples of good posing in card art. Can you find the line of action? DunclubDuncan 2.png CinderingLuna.png New Kairu.png Visleaf.png Clarity: Using Silhouettes Did you know that some animators, game artists, and graphic designers make their design out from the silhouette first? They have to keep the silhouette in mind because it helps with the clarity of your character. You can tell a lot from a character just by the silhouette alone. A good example of this is the design of Overwatch's Heroes by the use of their silhouettes. From the silhouettes alone, you can easily tell the amount of armor they have, what weapons their using, and even what their role might be, even if you don't know who they are. Overwatch has many examples of good character design because they acknowledge silhouettes. How do silhouettes help with clarity? Silhouettes help tell the viewer not only what your character is doing, but can also the emotion of the character too. For a quick example, here's a picture explaining the importance of silhouettes from the makers of "Spongebob Squarepants". Now, how does this apply this to card art? Most card artists sometimes find their art to be unclear to the viewer. One of the reasons this might be is that they're not keeping the character's silhouette in mind. If people aren't sure about what your character is doing, try changing the pose's silhouette! This can be an easy fix sometimes, either by changing the angle of the camera or by rotating the character's arms or legs. Below are examples of good silhouettes in card art. Imagine just the silhouette alone; can you still recognize what the character is doing? Puffytenter12_Luna.png ChaoticCommando.png Cat Ears Maid.png Revelling Satyr.png Part IV: Background! Ever since the implementation of the new card template, the card artists now have more freedom and options on what the background can look like. The background is as important as the character and the pose of the card art. Before we start, let's establish the difference between a background and a backdrop. Mrbeanbean2's art has a background; Prestwick's art has a backdrop. Backdrops can work for a card art, but they have to be as visually interesting as a normal background. Certainly, backdrops can look amazing, but backgrounds can tell much more. Why are backgrounds important? Because they set the context and mood of the scene. They can tell a story. To demonstrate, let's look at this picture below - what can you infer from this picture? You see that a rugged man is trying to save a woman from a mysterious warrior with his sword. The setting takes place in a graveyard at night; it's assumed that the giant warrior the man is fighting is a ghost or a spirit, with the green mysterious glow emphasizing that idea. The fact that the man is able to fight back suggests he's also a skilled warrior. This picture came just from a screencap of an episode of Samurai Jack, and yet we've managed to analyze how beautiful the scene is from one frame alone. That's what your backgrounds should be - to carry the story and actions of your character. How do you decide on the background? Look at your character you're making an art out of. What does your character look like? Is he a Roblox player, or a character outside of that? Where would you see this character? Then, decide on the props he'd be holding to complement that background. Here are some examples of visually interesting backgrounds. What do these backgrounds tell you about the setting and the mood? Bee Luna.png FishBubble Luna.png Inechi Luna.png DivinePengu.png Visual Movement: Guiding the Viewer's Eyes Once you decided on a good background and the context your character will be in, the question is how do you make it a great background? Just like how the line of action can direct the motion of the character, the art can direct the viewer's eyes to a focal point through visual movement. Demonstrating this effect requires the collaboration of both the character and the background. Great artists are aware of visual movement, and will try to incorporate it in their arts. For example, Great Paraselene Sage, made by Myrmiredon, is aware of visual movement, shown below. How do you guide the viewer's eyes through visual movement? You need to understand the visual hierarchy, or what the viewer's eyes would look at first. Here's a quick list for reference! The viewer's eyes would usually first look at: * Objects that take up the most space * Areas that have contrasting color, either through saturation or through hue. * Areas with the most light You can guide the viewer's eyes through: * Leading lines or arcs. Eyes love following lines. It doesn't have to be actual lines or curves too; it can be hidden in the background itself. * Spacing. Which object is closest to the focal point? * Perspective or Depth. From foreground to background. * Alignment. If objects are aligned in a set path, our brain makes the connection of an imaginary line. Now, there isn't a lot of examples of visual movement that I can pull from - most beginning artists usually don't consider visual movement at all. However, if you manage to implement them in your art, you can create some very eye-catching arts. Myrmiredon's Celestial arts are some great examples. See if you can find the "flow" in these arts! Celestial of Research.png Celestials of Chaos and Fate.png Celestial of Time and Space.png Celestials of Night and Day.png Part V: Color! Alright, there's two parts to this. One is the fundamentals of color theory. If you already know what color theory, then skip to the end of the section to understand how to implement it in your work. Color Theory: In a Nutshell Text-Heavy Form= Here is the color wheel, which labels all the general hues into different sections. * Primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) are the pigments that cannot be formed by the combination of any other colors. * Secondary colors are pigments that are the combination of two primary colors. * Tertiary colors are pigments that are the combination of a primary color and a secondary color. With these colors, you can create color harmony! Here are the six examples of color harmony. * Monochromatic: The use of only one color, including the tints, tones, and shades of said color. ** Tint: The color but lighter (added white). ** Tone: The color but grayer (added gray). ** Shade: The color but darker (added black). * Analogous: The use of three colors, which are next to each other on the color wheel. (ex: yellow-orange, orange, red-orange) * Complementary: The use of two colors, both directly across from each other on the color wheel. (ex: yellow and violet) * Split Complementary: The use of three colors. Like complementary, but you use two other colors across from the wheel. (ex: yellow, blue-violet, and red-violet) * Double Complementary: Having two complementary harmony pairs. (ex: red and green, blue and orange) * Triad: A color from each third of the wheel. (ex: red, yellow, blue) Colors can resonate a theme to the viewer. Here's a quick list of what color represents what. |-|Quickie: Image Form= Color: How to Implement Unless you're creating an entirely new card, you usually don't have the freedom of designing the character first, then the color scheme. Instead, you have to overcome the obstacle of working within the themes of your color. For example, a gun might look great for your art, but what if it's a green card? Myrmiredon would definitely go on a mini-rant again. Design your art around the card's color. When choosing your color scheme, it's important to not add too many colors. If you do, it'll look like an eyesore. For reference, think about how bad it would be if StaceyD07's crystals were your color scheme. What makes a good color scheme? Refer to the color harmony examples above, then look at the image below. What makes this art have a good color scheme? It follows a type of color harmony - analogous! Take notice that the art's lightest values and darkest still have a bit of green hue. If you're going for a colorful art, it's important to not use pure whites or blacks in your color scheme. Also take notice that the colors aren't pure or saturated colors, but rather tints, tones, or shades of the original color. It's important to not have the colors in your color scheme have too much saturation, or too intense in color. This is what it'd look like if you upped the saturation and brightness by 150%. (Expand at your own risk) Unless you're going for a pure achromatic (black-and-white) art, remember about these things when making a color scheme: * Go for color harmony! Complementary and analogous are the simplest. * Don't work with pure blacks and whites - add some color into your darkest and lightest values! * Make sure to not have too much saturation in your colors. Highly saturated colors should only be used to grab your attention to a focal point. If you want to implement color into your art: *Experiment with colors by editing Ambient or OutdoorAmbient (under Properties in Lighting) or changing the background's or props' colors. *Experiment with color harmony by editing ColorShift_Top and ColorShift_Bottom (also under properties in Lighting) to edit your "light" and "shadow". *If necessary, use artifical light (PointLight, SpotLight, SurfaceLight) to brighten certain areas of your art. *Invest time towards editing the sky and background. *As always, get outside feedback too! Here are some great examples of good color palette in card arts! LeetWizard Luna.png SoulSearch_NEWEST.png Darr1432.png Hallow, The Sugarlord.png Part VI: Lighting! In order to talk about lighting, we must first talk about value and saturation, and the difference between them. Value is how light or dark a color is. This is your tints, tones, and shades, as explained in the color theory section. Saturation is how intense a color is. Now, how does this help with lighting? Lighting isn't just about light and shadow - it's the contrast of these values together that make compelling pieces. In other words, it really isn't about the spectacular lighting you can make in Roblox studio. Good arts don't have good "lighting". Good arts have good contrast. This could be as simple as Titan of the Holy Chamber's art, with simple light and dark values... Or it could be as colorful as Visleaf's easter alt art! Visleaf Easter.PNG Visleaf Easter Monochrome.jpeg On the right is Visleaf's easter alt art but with achromatic (black-and-white) colors. Seeing arts in achromatic helps you see the contrast in value. Notice the variety of these values! In a card art, it's important to get a good contrast of value. If you have too much dark values, your art will be hard to see and it won't stand out! If you use too much light/saturated values, the art will look like an eyesore. And if you use too much of a similar gray value, your art will look bland! If you have issues with lighting: * Did people complain about your art being too dark? Lighten the art up by either adjusting the ambient (under Properties in Lighting) or adding artificial light (such as PointLight, SpotLight, and SurfaceLight). * Did people complain about your art being too bright? Decrease the saturation in your colors, add some darker values in the background, or increase the contrast in your shadows! * Did people complain about your art "looking" too bland? Add more variety in value, and use light and dark to your advantage! Knowing this principle, you can create amazing and eye-catching arts if they have good contrast in value. Some skilled artists are able to create visual movement through these values alone, since the viewer's eyes look at areas with the highest value or saturation first. See these arts below, with and without color! How do each of these artists use contrast to their advantage? With Color= desaturated1.jpeg desaturated2.jpeg desaturated3.jpeg desaturated4.jpeg |-|Without Color= DunclubDuncan.png FractalityPNG3.png Terra Warrior.png Midastheking123Luna.png Part VII: Camera Angles! TBA Category:Community Category:Guides